


a little piece of paradise

by babelincoln



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Animal Crossing Fusion, Bittersweet, M/M, Other, the boys are not animals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:14:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24011146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babelincoln/pseuds/babelincoln
Summary: jaehyun sees johnny again the next day. he’s sitting on the uppermost hill of the island, legs dangling over the ledge, hovering over the tiny little hidden beach below. jaehyun had come up to look for tadpoles in the pond. he first thinks to say hello, but there’s something peaceful about johnny that he doesn’t want to disturb. he watches as johnny rips petals from buttercups and sprinkles them to the sand below, sighing a sigh that jaehyun will never ask about. jaehyun goes back down the incline and leaves him alone.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 8
Kudos: 16





	a little piece of paradise

**Author's Note:**

> this is really short and mostly just a desperate attempt to get out of my writers block! i kind of like it so. i uploaded something very similar not long ago but i wasn't happy with it so i took it down and changed it up a bit.

“ah, a new resident tomorrow, that’s right.”

jaehyun isn’t trying to eavesdrop at all, but nook’s voice was always way louder than it needed to be. he’s sure the raccoon thinks he’s being quiet (he had a fondness for “muttering” one-liners to himself; things jaehyun is sure he’s not supposed to be hearing) but the voice is loud and clear, even from inside nook’s cranny. trowelling soil over the handful of seeds he’d planted in front of the store, jaehyun furrows his eyebrows. a new resident of pandora island often just meant more work for him, as much as he enjoyed making new friends.

“good work out there, jaehyun!” calls nook from the window above jaehyun’s head, waving a paw down at him. jaehyun squints as he looks up at him, tropical sun in his eyes, and smiles.

“thanks boss.” he says. “think i can head for the day?” 

“hmm.” nook takes his time to consider it, but jaehyun doesn’t let his smile falter. he owes a lot to tom nook, tyrannical though he may be. jaehyun knows not to bite the hand that feeds him. not even if it enjoys dangling said food on a string in front of him. “yes, i suppose that would be fair. a half day never hurt anybody! yes, yes...” 

jaehyun bows his head in thanks, and nook disappears back into the shop. tucking his trowel into his back pocket, jaehyun makes a futile effort to dust the soil from his work jeans. his knees ache dully from five straight hours of gardening, wrists stiff from forcing open stiff earth, and all he wants is to lay in a cool bath until no inch of skin is left unshrivelled.

“jaehyun!” nook calls, when jaehyun is about ten footsteps into his journey home. jaehyun turns to see him dangling a nook-branded luggage bag out of the store window. “since you’re out and about anyway, would you mind making some deliveries for me on your way home?” 

* * *

a myriad of circumstances had led to this moment. timmy and tommy had taken turns throwing pebbles at jaehyun’s window pane at six in the morning, waking him only to demand he watch nook’s cranny today. nook himself was going to be boating across to a neighbouring island for... some kind of business, (jaehyun either wasn’t told or didn’t listen; it’s a coin toss so early in the morning) and the twins would be busy all day with... something (same excuses apply.) 

jaehyun thinks he’d be well within his right to say no; but he’s a good employee, no matter how often he daydreams of becoming a bad one. that, and nook’s cranny was never exactly busy. with a population still under fifty, the residents of pandora island rarely stopped by. jaehyun remembers a few months ago, when three people had patronised the store at the same time. somehow, that had felt overwhelmingly busy.

jaehyun was kindly accustomed to waking up no earlier that 10am, and so it’s not even to the shock of himself that he caught himself drifting off about an hour into his shift. at first, he’d managed to force himself awake, but somewhere around 7:30 he gives in, tucking his chin against his chest and falling into slumber, placing blind faith in the chimes attached to the doorframe to wake him were anybody to visit the store- although he can’t image who, whilst living on an island paradise, would elect to be up and about at such an ungodly hour. 

there’s fragments of dreams, sand under his toes, water between his fingertips, and then the world shakes him awake.

he jolts, gripping onto the counter as the wooden walls around him tremble fearsomely, and not for the first time he thinks the store is going to cave in on itself. he can hear the distant puttering of engines, a pressure to his ears, and not for the second time either, he wonders who would think to build such a flimsy wooden shack so close to an airport. 

rubbing his eyes and grimacing at the bitter taste of interrupted sleep in his mouth, jaehyun makes his way to the other side of the store to peak out of the window. the airport is visible from here, although the only indication that a plane has landed is the ripple on the ocean stretching out behind it. for a second, he’s confused, but then he remembers what he heard nook say yesterday. right. a new resident. 

jaehyun sighs as he rubs the back of his neck, stiff from sleep. he looks at the clock- it’s approaching midday. 

“crap.” he mutters to himself, scrambling back to the cash register to make sure it’s contents still counted up to the total he had started out with. how had he managed to sleep on the job for almost five hours? 

* * *

“jung jaehyun, johnny suh!” nook introduces cheerfully in the evening. the crackling of a bonfire instruments the chatter of the islands residents as they gather for johnny’s welcome party.

jaehyun was expecting the new resident to be an animal. who knows what kind, but certainly not a fellow human. especially not one who’s objectively handsome, smiling right at him, clearly waiting for jaehyun to say something. 

“uh.” jaehyun says, with a stiff bow. nailed it. 

nook gives him a weird look, and johnny laughs, bowing back before throwing a hand up in greeting. “nice to meet you, jaehyun!” he says. “i’ve been hearing all about you.” 

nook nods behind a swig of his fruit juice.

“yes, yes, jaehyun is my hardest worker, when he’s not clocking out early-“ don’t bite the hand that feeds you, jaehyun- “i don’t know where this island would be without him!”

“well.” jaehyun smiles modestly, vaguely wondering if nook’s cranny has cctv, and if he would be punished were nook to see him sleeping on the job this morning. “i don’t know about that.” 

“everyone speaks really highly of you.” johnny interjects with a friendly smile. “seems like you’re the man to know around here.” 

jaehyun can’t help but smile at that. 

* * *

the sun is beating down, and jaehyun wipes the back of his hand against his forehead, though any sweat he wipes away is replenished almost immediately. he’d applied sunscreen, but he can still feel the back of his neck burning as he tends to nook’s garden. 

a cheery k.k. slider song drifts from the open window of nook’s cranny, and jaehyun can hear tommy singing along pleasantly. it’s a nice day, with a nice atmosphere, even if he wishes he was down at the beach instead of working. 

he’s uprooting weeds from the store’s exterior when a sneaker-clad foot stomps right down on the blossoming tulips he’d planted a month before, and he lets out an indigent “hey!” before he can stop himself.

“oh, sorry!” johnny suh bows in apology. looking up at him, jaehyun sees the phone in his hand and deducts that he simply wasn’t looking where he was going. jaehyun decides to forgive him, if only because johnny was kind of cute. dejectedly, he examines the crushed flowers, trying to find any hope of salvaging them. 

“it’s okay.” he says weakly as he holds the dropping flowers gently between his fingers. he’ll have to uproot them and start afresh. he purses his lips. “you’re not the first person to do it.” 

“how come i always see you working? don’t you ever take a day off?” johnny asks, making his way back over. he crouches down to be level with jaehyun, who’s kneeling in the dirt, as he often seems to be doing. 

“if i take one day off, i’ll take the next hundred too.” jaehyun says with a smirk.

“who’d say no to a hundred and one days off in paradise?” johnny responds. 

“i have to keep myself busy, i guess.” jaehyun shrugs, taking his trowel and beginning to dig at the roots of the flattened flowers. “i can’t think of anything worse than getting bored in, as you call it, paradise.” 

“well, y’know.” johnny grins, leaning back to fall into a sitting position, stretching his legs out- looking a little apprehensive of where to place his feet. “if you ever want to spend your time doing something other than hard physical labour, you can come hang out with me.” 

jaehyun nods his head. “i’ll keep it in mind.” 

* * *

jaehyun sees johnny again the next day. he’s sitting on the uppermost hill of the island, legs dangling over the ledge, hovering over the tiny little hidden beach below. jaehyun had come up to look for tadpoles in the pond. he first thinks to say hello, but there’s something peaceful about johnny that he doesn’t want to disturb. he watches as johnny rips petals from buttercups and sprinkles them to the sand below, sighing a sigh that jaehyun will never ask about. jaehyun goes back down the incline and leaves him alone. 

* * *

hanging out with johnny is fun, as it turns out. he had friends on the island, of course, but jaehyun had busied himself largely with work; which had kind of stunted any progress he made in getting closer than benevolence with anybody. 

they hunt bugs together for blathers’ exhibits, spend lazy afternoons fishing off of stone bridges, getting lost in conversation and failing to notice the tugs on their fishing lines. on weekdays, johnny helps jaehyun deliver parcels from nook’s cranny to the neverending stream of new neighbours pandora island was attracting, always finding something new and exciting to talk about. they bump sunburned shoulders on the rickety old seaplane and they travel to distant lands, guide one another through hedge mazes and lob apples at each other in inexplicable wars with uncertain endgoals; the subsequent bruises bringing oddly happy memories whenever they sting. 

and johnny talks of adventure only and he dreams of it, and jaehyun, in all his domesticity, wonders if he’s enough. 

* * *

he sees johnny through the window, when he goes to his kitchen to get a glass of water. it’s three am, and johnny stands on the beach, hoodie and pyjama pants, looking off into the moonlight. jaehyun sleeps in his underwear, so he throws a t-shirt and on and goes outside.

“johnny?” he asks quietly, not wanting to wake anybody else up. johnny turns to look at him and smiles. the sand is still kind of warm under jaehyun’s toes as he walks into the beach. he realises then. he hadn’t even put shoes on. 

“hey, bro.” johnny grins, but something is different. jaehyun takes his place at johnny’s side, crossing his arms, looking up at the sky. johnny looks again too, and they just look for a while; nobody speaking but the waves.

“couldn’t sleep?” jaehyun finally asks. johnny nods.

“you ever look out on the horizon and think, like… how much is out there? and think about how much there is left to see in the world?”

jaehyun leans his head against johnny’s shoulder, because he doesn’t need to hear any more, doesn’t need to ask any questions. he knows what’s coming. “just promise you’ll come back some day.” he says, softly.

* * *

two days later, jaehyun receives a letter. his name is scrawled on the envelope, and he recognises the penmanship straight away. 

he keeps it in his desk drawer unopened. one day, he hopes to hand it back. seal in tact. 

**Author's Note:**

> find me on[twitter](https://twitter.com/jaepluhm)! if you liked reading this, please do leave a comment!


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